A program in the Blue Valley school district has given the anatomy classes at BVNW the opportunity to use a handheld, touchscreen tablet known as an iPad to enhance the curriculum. Anatomy teacher Keri Schumacher is using the iPads as a tool to look further into the human body.

“The iPads that the anatomy classes have are part of a program in the district called Innovation Spaces,” Schumacher said. “Innovation Spaces is a technology program that is funded by a portion of the most recent bond that was passed.”

According to Schumacher, the district took a small portion of the fund and identified classrooms in the elementary, middle and high schools to pilot technology. Now, teachers are trying out new technology and then giving feedback on what equipment works in the classroom. From their feedback the district can decide where to use the remaining fund.

“This pilot is helpful so they can buy devices that are specific to what is needed at certain grade levels or even content areas,” Schumacher said.

The BVNW classes are the first to try out the iPads because the anatomy classes were in need of new textbooks this school year. Schumacher said she was already interested in looking at an electronic component to the textbooks, so the district science coordinator thought the iPads would be useful in the classroom.

“Anatomy here at BVNW just kind of happened to fall into this [pilot] ahead of the game,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher has had the iPads in her classroom for one unit of study therefore; she has not had enough feedback to see if the iPads fit the class well. However, Schumacher has selected many apps that are specific to each of the body systems studied in her classroom. According to Schumacher the most useful part about the applications is that they give students another tool to understand something they cannot see inside of the human body.

“[On the iPads] you can get a 3-D aspect that is difficult to get out of pictures seen in textbooks and things like that,” Schumacher said.

Senior Gabrielle Muscari said she enjoys having the iPads in her anatomy class because they help her get a better visual of what she is learning. According to Muscari, the students have only been given the opportunity to use iPads during their unit studying the skeletal structures.

“I do [like the iPads] because they give you a visual perspective of what you are learning,” Muscari said. “You get the hands-on part because [on the iPads] we get to use apps that we can write on and take snap shots of and send into dropbox to use at home.”